The Visitor (5 page)

His eyes searched for a large rock not too far from the cage and... Ho!

The lightning-slayer who didn’t slay was back. He didn’t want it to find out what he was up to. Of course, it didn’t slay but how to know what it had in mind? Up to now, it hadn’t done anything to let him out of this prison!

He hid his tool in the grass outside the cage, behind the thickness of the flooring. But he had no time to discard all the leaves and branches that had been removed and that littered his prison’s floor.

*

On approaching the cage, Akkaliza noted that the bov had hastily thrown plant debris between the bars. She slowed down to have time to observe him, feigning not having seen anything. Meanwhile, he was visibly making an effort not to see her arriving.

“
So?” she said when she was near. “All’s going well for you
?

He looked at her miming surprise to perfection. She was intrigued by this unexpected behavior. The few leaves and twigs that remained on the floor of the cage, mixed with grass that she made there for his comfort, didn’t convey any information to her about what he was up to, and said even less about why he had wanted to hide it. So, she decided to discreetly keep a watch on him to find out.

“
Well... I see that you're not very hungry… nor thirsty, for that matter... I'll leave you for a short while. I'll be back soon!”
 

She walked away, but instead of heading home, she slipped into the woods to hide behind a tree and monitor his actions in all discretion. But she was surprised to see that he hadn’t lost sight of her; whenever she dared a look, he stared back at her. It was like he was saying to her “I know that you haven’t gone away.” More upset against herself than against him, she came out of hiding and returned to the cage.

“
Okay! I see that you’re a smart-ass and I accept that you won’t entrust me to all your secrets. Sneaky! I'll wait for you to gain more confidence in me. It’s for me to win it by unveiling to you some of my own secrets. You know, earlier on, I
skipped class to see my aunt. If my father found out! Of course, I talked to her about you! I hope you’re able to understand!”
 

The bov scratched his head, fumbled with both hands in the long black hair on his head and cheeks, apparently seeking to decrypt, and bovgrunted briefly.

“
Wow, you’re getting to be a big talker! I’ll tell you another, a big secret. Okkala... she’s my aunt. She told me that she was going to insert someone into Dad’s company to get information about what exactly is going on. It annoys me a bit to have been made aware of that because I’ve the impression that I’m betraying my father. But I know that my aunt is doing it for all the nice bovs like you. So, I’m torn. Do you understand? On the other hand, I think that Okkala told me this information so that I wouldn’t feel betrayed by her, the day that I found out.”
 

The bov twisted some hairs around his mouth and let out a new brief bovgrunt without taking his eyes off her.

“
Hey! Let me speak! How talkative you’re becoming! So, I told you I’m studying ethology. My aunt Okkala, it’s her profession. Yes, she’s an ethologist. And, you understand, that it’s by studying nice guys like you that she has found that you think of stuff, like us, that you can experience fear, that you have feelings for your loved ones, that... all in all, you’ve much in common with us. That's why she has founded an association to defend you...”
 

*

Etos listened to the lightning-slayer, but despite all his efforts he couldn’t discern a single intelligible detail in all the whistles that it produced. Aside from the fact that it was keeping him prisoner, it didn’t seem to harbor ill intentions. For the time being at least. It had offered him food and water... it was probably the one that had placed on him the objects that soothed his wounds... It still didn’t carry in its hands the thing that bangs and kills...

He decided to open up. Perhaps then it would release him! If this didn’t work, he could always fall back to putting his plan into action as soon as it turned its back.

“
Etos Mahisa loves," he said. “Etos very sad far from her! Do you want Etos release? Etos would be so happy to see Mahisa again!”
 

The lightning-slayer stopped, apparently listening. She remained silent for a moment, as if she was waiting to see if he had anything else to say. Sure enough, he continued to bovgrunt:

“
Mahisa small very cute head has," he finished saying. “When to Etos Mahisa smiles, very need Etos to wrap her in arms and tighten her against Etos. Like to make her enter heart of Etos. Yes! My arms hungry for her are. Let Etos go. Etos to Mahisa belongs, not to you.”
 

He noted that, once more, the lightning-slayer kept silent to consider him. But it hadn’t opened up his prison so far. He deduced that either it didn't want to, or it couldn't, or it didn’t understand his request. So whatever it was, for the time being, there was no longer any reason to seek to communicate. It was better to wait patiently for its departure. To induce it to move away more quickly, he pretended to be tired and to fall asleep.

*

To say the least, Akkaliza was disappointed when he lied down and turned his back to her. She crossed over to the other side of the cage to look at him from the front. His eyes were closed.

Incredibly sudden tiredness and quite expeditious sleep!
she said to herself.
 

Bits of branches were scattered on the ground on this side, but she didn’t know what to think.

“
I'll leave since you’re sleeping. See you later, have a good nap!”
 

She walked away intending to retrieve from her room the automatic recording device that she used occasionally for filming the animals without their knowledge. When she came back to install it, he was still lying down, but in a different position. Had he simply moved in his sleep? Or had he gotten up, but quickly lied back down on her approach? More and more intrigued, she placed the camera to film the whole cage and she set it so that it would start up when detecting motion. This having been done, she left making an effort not to turn around. It was the time for the family’s midday meal. Not easy to avoid! In any case, not every day! She really wanted to eat with her aunt, but had preferred not to annoy her parents to whom family meetings at the table as often as possible meant a lot.

There were thirty thousand bovs raised for their meat. Thirty rows of one thousand. Same as the dairy bovs, they were the result of multiple crossbreeding, selections and genetic modifications. Except they had been optimized to produce meat that is mainly muscle mass. Same as for the milk producers, they were fed with meat and bone flour that were made part newborn bovs, part old dairy bovs in loss of performance and of course, part waste from the rendering of their congeners that had been turned into meat. This food source had a double advantage. First, it was very economical since it was just biomaterial recycling. Also, it was an easy way to get rid of animal waste. It would quickly become quite cumbersome if it were necessary to store it somewhere. Thus, transport and service expenditures to reprocess or incinerate them elsewhere were avoided. And as a bonus, no storage meant no pollution. Unwittingly, bovs had thus become cannibals. In addition to that, without knowing it, mothers had even eaten their own children.

Meat bovs living conditions were similar to those of the dairy bovs. Fences and chains prevented them to make the slightest movement so that they do nothing else than to grow and grow as quickly as possible. All castrated, they were aided in this task by growth hormones and anabolic steroids. To forestall any epidemic that would spread like wildfire given the extreme density of their population, they were also continuously fed antibiotics as a preventive measure.

Nobody felt directly responsible for all this terrible suffering because each person’s tasks and actions were divided so that no one had the impression of actually participating. Imagine a thousand individuals each pushing a knife only one-tenth of a millimeter into someone’s heart. They all could then say:
it isn't really me who’s killing him
.
 

Keeping in mind that the bovs’ heartbreaking moans were too low pitched to be very clearly audible to the ears of their 'unaware' executioners. And add to that facial expressions having no resemblance to those of these same executioners. Everything, alas, converged to allow bad faith, from those who didn't want to hear anything and preferred not to see, to persist.

Ukkosal was an exception; he knew. He knew and he refused to close the eyes of his conscience. He remembered his parents’ livestock farm handed down from generation to generation. For sure, although their farm existed to produce bov milk and meat, in those days, animals weren’t treated with so much cruelty. Of course, they were killed to be eaten, of course milk intended for their young was taken from the females, of course their skin was used to make clothing and various items of leather goods. He acknowledged that they were considered as simple resources to be exploited, but once again, in those days, the beasts weren’t treated with so much cruelty. That’s what Ukkosal was trying to tell the abolitionist vegans, especially Okkala, Akkal’s sister. But these people weren’t appreciative of his words. They answered him that it’s not because a reprehensible thing is getting worse with time that it was respectable in the first place; that a murder, even committed with less cruelty, remained a murder. Ukkosal found them a little extreme. Nevertheless, he was touched by the fact that their speech and actions were clearly not motivated by any personal interest. They earned nothing for themselves by spending so much energy on the animal cause. Also, he gradually felt more and more close to them, even though he was still not adhering to one hundred percent of their beliefs; he really couldn't concede to them that his parents were murderers! And this despite the mitigating circumstance kindly proposed by Okkala:

“
In those days, people weren’t aware. They were doing what they had always seen being done. It was also a time when there was nothing more natural than to have slaves. All those who owned some weren’t deliberately cruel. Some in all good faith were doing what was needed to be good masters.
They beat their servants only when they felt that they deserved it. Without necessarily being evil, we can do the worst things, simply by education, because it’s the cultural environment.”
 

“
My parents were neither murderers nor the slavers," answered Ukkosal, angry.
 

Okkala tried to make herself understood:

“
That’s not what I’m saying. I took this example to show that ethics evolve, what’s considered a crime today wasn’t necessarily so at an earlier time. So we can now anticipate and guess that some things that now appear normal may be judged as crimes later. It's called evolution. I remind you again that I’m telling you this while my own parents are doing the same work that yours did.”
 

They were both walking in a nearby park. A silence persisted almost a minute. She broke it:

“
So? Are you with us or are you too angry with me to help us?”
 

“
Sure, I'm a little upset! But I'll help you anyway, because the disgust for what Akkal and his colleagues are doing is much stronger than what I’m blaming you for... you and your band of visionaries. I think you’re crazy, but not evil. While those who have taken over my parents livelihood are even crazier than you and furthermore very cruel!”
 

Ukkosal wasn’t truly aware that his decision was also partly dictated by the attraction Okkala exerted upon him. Indeed, he found in her an intrinsic charm that strengthened his passionate and dedicated resolve.

“
Thank you, on behalf of Two One Four to help the nice fools that we are.”
 

“
Eh...” he let out. “If your brother ever finds out what you’re asking me to do against him, he’ll hate you to the day he dies! I hope that you’re aware that you’re taking this risk.”
 

“
I’m fully aware of that. But understand that I’m doing nothing against him personally. I’m struggling against his es
tablishment of death and against all others too. Don’t forget that I’m doing the same thing with his competitors.”
 

“
Yes, Yes... In fact, you others... er... how to say... other er...”
 

“
Activists dedicated to the legitimate cause of Two One Four, you mean?”
 

“
A bit long for a name. More simply, I was going to say 'spies'."
 

“
Yes, we have one. But we need more.”
 

“
One?”
 

“
Yes.”
 

Ukkosal felt pierced by a small spike of jealousy. Who was this guy? Was he important for her, outside the service he could render to Two One Four? And, himself, what were his feelings on this subject?

*

Akkaliza ate vegetables stuffed with textured soy protein. She was the only one of the four to be consuming that. Her parents and her brother had the same vegetables on their plate, but filled with bov meat.

Akkaliza didn’t understand much why her presence was so important because her parents had gotten into the habit of watching television while eating. For the few words they exchanged... She noted that her father seemed particularly preoccupied, but she had no clue for what could cause him such concern. It was news time:

 
"We are welcoming today Madam Ekklamisa, Director of the space agency, to tell us about an extraordinary discovery made this morning: an unidentified spacecraft has been discovered by astronomers. The object had been spotted for several days already, but, up to now, it was too far into space to able to discover its surprising nature. Isn’t that true Madam Ekklamisa? Did I correctly introduce the topic?”